It’s this time of the year, which lets us think of Easter egg hunts. Not only the real Easter eggs but also the virtual ones, well hidden in our smart assistants: Siri, Alexa, and Google. An Easter egg in computer software is an intentional inside joke or hidden feature, left there from the creators to lead you on a hunt. Let’s see what Apple, Amazon, and Google have prepared for us.
While compiling a list of around 500 Easter eggs, I thought about how to structure them best for you. Soon I realized, I would seriously spoil your Easter egg hunt, by presenting you the results. Instead, let me introduce you to the way how Alexa, Google, and Siri lead you to their Easter Egg hunt. Enjoy!
Alexa’s Easter Egg Hunt
Alexa will lead you straight to her Easter egg hunt when you tell her:
- Alexa, I am bored
Alexa will give you an example (“Alexa, beam me up”) and tell you that you need to ask her for more hints:
- Alexa, give me an Easter egg
Alexa will give you a hint. Let’s go through one example (only): “A game I can play involves crushing, cutting and covering.” Easy, isn’t it:
- Alexa, rock, paper, scissors
And we are into the game. But wait, there is another version if you know The Big Bang Theory:
- Alexa, rock, paper, scissors, lizard, Spock
- Alexa, define rock, paper, scissors, lizard, Spock
Ok, just one more: Alexa, give me an Easter egg.
“Speak like small green Jedi, if me you ask, can I.”
- Alexa, can you talk like Yoda?
Alexa will provide you hints in following categories (amongst others):
- Movies
- TV Series
- Books
- (Video) Games
- Music
- Technology
- Jokes
If you want to take it to the next level: “If you seek Easter eggs that are not too easy, ask for a hardboiled Easter egg. Beware, some might be cheesy.”
- Alexa, give me a hard-boiled Easter egg
Ok, a final example =) “Try this clue. I don’t advocate cheating, but for old school video gamers, cheat codes are a different story. There’s one in particular from Konami. Can you activate it?”
- Alexa, up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, start.
Google’s Easter Egg Hunt
Google has a conversational approach to his Easter egg hunt, as soon as you ask:
- Hey Google, give me a Easter egg (Note, “an Easter egg” sometimes doesn’t work, thanks for the feedback!)
You will hear the hint, but Google will keep listening for your response (so you don’t have to say Ok/Hey Google again).
“I was talking to the fox the other day, You’ll never believe what he said.”
- What did the fox say?
Note, by asking: “Hey Google, what did the fox say?”, you can access the Easter egg anytime.
Google also covers many Easter eggs in following categories:
- Movies
- TV Series
- Books
- Facts
- (Video) Games
- Music
- Technology
- Jokes
Let’s try one more example: “I am not saying I’ve figured out the meaning of life, but maybe you should ask me about it.”
- What is the meaning of life?
Google does not support “hard-boiled” Easter eggs, which would be more difficult to find. Maybe he is just omitting the hint?
Siri’s Easter Egg Real Hunt
Siri, will not give you a single hint for her Easter eggs. She truly hides them, so you can only find them by trying. Here are some examples:
- Hey Siri, I see a little silhouetto of a man …
- Hey Siri, hey computer!
- Hey Siri, what are you doing later?
- Hey Siri, do you have a boyfriend?
- Hey Siri, what is your best pick up line?
- Hey Siri, read my a Haiku
- Hey Siri, what is 0 divided by 0?
- Hey Siri, “Hi Cortana”/”OK, Google”/”Alexa”
My Personal Easter Egg Hunt Conclusion
I like Alexas and Googles approach to give us hints. Though it actually spoils the Easter egg idea a bit, it’s fun to hunt this way. Alexa surprises by providing easy and difficult, “hard-boiled” Easter eggs.
Though Siri treats Easter eggs the way they were intended – as a secret – it appears, that Apple has not put as much effort into Easter eggs as Google and Amazon. The list of Alexa and Google Easter eggs which you can find spread all over the internet, is similarly extensive, maybe because of the hints.
Here’s my personal “Easter egg hunt” conclusion:
- Alexa, egg-cellent you are the best Easter bunny!
- Google, improve your “give me a Easter egg” recognition a bit more until tomorrow (sometimes he gives a Wikipedia response, and sometimes he doesn’t like proper grammar: “an”).
- Siri, I mean, yes, you know what an Easter egg is, but you’re so sirious. You need to realize that you are now not only on personal devices like iPhones, Apple Watches, MacBooks, and iPads. You are on HomePods in living rooms and families sometimes just want to have fun, especially during holidays.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this Easter egg hunt showdown! Enjoy the holidays and have fun with your smart assistants!
You can find other competitions here:
- Musical Assistant Showdown: Who will win, Siri, Google or Alexa?
- Assistant Showdown with Philips Hue: Who will win, Siri, Alexa or Google?
- Assistant Showdown with Logitech Harmony: Who will win, Alexa or Google?
- Assistant Showdown with Nanoleaf Aurora: Who will win, Siri, Alexa or Google?
- If you’d like to read more about Siri, see: Apple Siri.
- For more Alexa posts, check out Amazon Alexa.
- More Google Home posts are here: Google Assistant.
And yes, if you’ve found a very special Easter egg, please share it with us in the comments below!
Just, one more =)
- Alexa, Hey Siri/Google, tell us a pun!
Just one more: Alexa, Hey Google tell us a rabbit joke! =)
Cheers,
Kay